Page 100 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

GREEN FROM THE INSIDE OUT 79

The ramifications of authenticity (or lack thereof) can destroy a company’s ability
to market a sustainable product or service. Would you, for example, buy that new
recycled-content countertop if the firm that manufactures it were releasing ozone-
depleting gases with each slab of material it produced? Or would you look for an alter-
native material that would serve the same purpose but is not made by a company that
is destroying the ozone layer? (This is a fictional example, at least to the best of my
knowledge.)
There are numerous examples of companies facing challenges to their authenticity:

■ Toyota, seen as an environmental innovator for the development of the fuel-sipping
hybrid Prius, joined other auto manufacturers in a lawsuit against the state of
California to challenge the state’s stringent vehicle emission requirements.
■ General Electric’s Eco-imagination campaign highlights efforts to become a more
sustainable company by focusing on the research and production of clean tech-
nologies and green products. Will consumers buy this or will they remember the
GE that dumped millions of pounds of PCBs into the Hudson River or the fact
that it is responsible for the largest number of Superfund clean-up sites in the
country? 1
■ British Petroleum (BP) has spent hundreds of millions of dollars since 2000 re-
branding itself “Beyond Petroleum,” while its leaking oil pipes in Alaska in 2006
2
caused the largest-ever North Slope oil spill and after announcing a $3.1 billion
deal to pursue extracting oil from the Canadian tar sands in upcoming years. Does
that sound like moving beyond petroleum?

CAST STUDIES IN AUTHENTICITY
What follows are some real, personal experiences involving green development. I will
provide the framework, and you can assess the degree of authenticity for each one.

Case One
Scenario: A meeting with a fellow green developer with a clever master plan to cre-
ate a large-scale sustainable development. This development would rekindle interest
in a forsaken part of town, with hundreds of thousands of square feet of green build-
ings being constructed over the next few years. During the course of the meeting and
a tour of the developer’s main office, I noticed there were no recycling bins available,
and that indeed, numerous aluminum cans were being thrown away in the trash. Could
a green developer whose office lacks the easiest, most basic recycling effort be con-
sidered authentic?
Lesson: In the green world, first impressions last. Recycling is often used as a first
sniff test for organizations—it is a basic tenet of sustainability, is cheap and easy to
do, and is visible—if your organization does not have a recycling program for paper,
plastic, glass, and cans—get one!